


Ink Spilled on Bronze

by Nyxelestia



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Angst, Canonical Character Death, Discussions of abuse, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Parent-Child Relationship, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 15:20:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15512712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nyxelestia/pseuds/Nyxelestia
Summary: “…I needed to…” Scott’s voice shook and Melissa whirled around, in case he started crying. His face was still buried in his hands, and no claws were out. “I just needed something to hold onto. And this was it.”She sighed at the slight crack in his voice, and strode over to pull him into a tight hug.Melissa could swear that just yesterday, she was picking Scott up and swinging him around. Now she had to lean back a little to embrace his ridiculous shoulders, one hand wrapping around the back of his head just like she had when she could cart him around on her hip.He might be taller than her now, and almost a full-grown man, and awerewolfnow, but he was still her baby.5 times Melissa resented Scott's tattoo, and 1 time she embraced it.





	Ink Spilled on Bronze

“Please don’t freak out,” Scott said, which immediately caused Melissa to start internally freaking out. What the hell did kids expect when saying something like that?

Then Scott pulled off his jacket, revealing his left arm to her, and _oh_. That’s what.

Melissa blinked at the tattoo on his bicep, two bands wrapped around her baby boy like inky manacles. His skin practically glowed bronze in the late afternoon sun filtering into their living room, and that just made the tattoo seem like an even darker black in comparison.

“What the hell is this?” she demanded.

Scott winced. “I…figured I should tell you instead of, y’know, you seeing it in passing or something?” He shrugged as he folded his jacket. “I meant it when I said I wanted to be a better son, but I don’t want to _just_ be a better son, I want to be a better me so I couldn’t just wait to get this but I knew you wouldn’t say yes so I just-”

“How did you even _get_ this?!” she cried out, her purse dropping onto the couch. “You’re not eighteen yet!”

Scott seemed to flinch, and for that, Melissa started taking deep breaths as he explained. “There’s a guy off the 115, just outside the county? He will ignored just how different age makes you look from your ID if you pay extra.”

Her keys fell from her limp fingers and clattered against the coffee table, and Scott cringed at the sound, draping his folded jacket over the back of the couch.

“I’m sorry,” Scott murmured. He looked down at his shoes. “I hoped this would be the last time I had to ask for forgiveness instead of permission?”

Melissa took a deep breath, counted to ten, and let it back out.

“Why, Scott?” she asked. “This is _permanent_! A permanent part of your body! You know how likely it is you’ll regret this one day?”

“Do you regret _your_ tattoo?” Scott tried.

Melissa grimaced. “It’s a tramp-stamp, and I’m pushing forty. The only good thing that came out of it was _you_.”

She immediately regretted saying that, even moreso when Scott frowned in confusion. “What do _I_ have to do with a tattoo?”

“It’s extremely unlikely that the circumstances that led to your conception would’ve happened without my stupid tattoo,” Melissa deadpanned. Scott’s face turned red as the implication sunk in. Deciding to make it worse, Melissa added, “Do I need to give you the ‘don’t get me landed on a reality show with a baby’ speech again?”

“No!” Scott yelped in horror, then looking at her in betrayal when she snickered. “I got this for the opposite reason!”

“Opposite reason?” Melissa asked, shaking her head a little ruefully as she headed into the kitchen — no matter what stupid thing her teenager did now, they still needed to eat. Thank god they still had leftovers from last night.

Scott nodded as he started pulling out plates and forks. “I…wanted to talk to Allison and I didn’t care about summer school and I was still struggling on full moons, and I just…” Scott hid his face in his hands. “So much has happened, and it all happened so fast. My grades went crazy, the one relationship I had went off the rails, my entire _species_ changed…”

His muffled voice trailed off, and Melissa let him have his moment as she fiddled with the microwave.

“…I needed to…” Scott’s voice shook and Melissa whirled around, in case he started crying. His face was still buried in his hands, and no claws were out. “I just needed something to hold onto. And this was it.”

She sighed at the slight crack in his voice, and strode over to pull him into a tight hug.

Melissa could swear that just yesterday, she was picking Scott up and swinging him around. Now she had to lean back a little to embrace his ridiculous shoulders, one hand wrapping around the back of his head just like she had when she could cart him around on her hip.

He might be taller than her now, and almost a full-grown man, and a _werewolf_ now, but he was still her baby.

“Hey,” she murmured, rocking them back and forth a little. The motion was worlds away from what she did when comforting a fussy toddler, but it worked nonetheless, Scott returning the hug and burying his face in her hair. “I’m not gonna pretend I’m happy with it, but I’m not that upset, either. I’m just _worried_ , sweetheart, not mad.”

Over a decade and a half out of diapers, and patting his back still worked to get him to calm down.

“Thanks,” Scott mumbled, taking a deep breath before pulling away.

Cupping his face, she said, “At my age, my tattoo is kind of embarrassing. But it got me _you_ , which is why, no matter how embarrassing it is now, I don’t regret it one bit.”

With a shaky smile and a slight flush, Scott nodded. Behind her, the microwave beeped its completion, and Melissa pulled away to start doling out leftover pasta.

“Just tell me one thing,” she said, when she and Scott were splayed out in the living room with their dinners. “You got that tattoo at a safe place, right? Like the equipment was clean and all?”

“Yeah,” Scott promised. With a shrug, he added, “Not like it would matter much, I can heal from some pretty nasty things these days, remember?”

Melissa narrowed her eyes at the tattoo on his arm. “Wait,” she said. “If you heal, then how did you _get_ that tattoo?”

Scott winced. “Um…are you sure you wanna know?”

She gave him the flattest stare she could, the kind that her own mother bestowed upon her during or after Melissa’s least proud moments in her youth. “I’m your mother. Of course I want to know.”

“It actually _did_ heal up at first,” Scott explained, with a tone that told Melissa already just how much she was gonna hate hearing this. “But I remembered that Derek had a tattoo, so after I helped him with Isaac and stuff, I asked him about it, and well…”


End file.
